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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26663224">Fleet</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/firerwolf/pseuds/firerwolf'>firerwolf</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Infinity Week 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Halo (Video Games) &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:15:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>698</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26663224</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/firerwolf/pseuds/firerwolf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Entry 6 for Infinity Week 2020</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Infinity Week 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934041</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Fleet</h2></a>
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    <p>Captain Lasky stood on the bridge of the Infinity, watching the holographic figures move as the fleet was launched and pelicans were deployed to the planet below. Sarah had once told him she hated the simplistic display of forces, that it dehumanized the lives the icons represented. He supposed that came from her days as a trooper being one of those triangles on a tactical map. And he had to agree that staring at shapes and not human faces makes it pretty easy to disassociate the gravity of decisions and the lives in danger. But at times it’s a necessary evil, when the hard choices have to made and there’s no way to save everyone. Still it was easy to see living people as little more than pieces in a game if you weren't careful. </p><p>Tom had taken extra steps to avoid falling into that disconnected mindset. He'd made sure to speak directly to the Captain of every ship in his fleet before they'd launched on the mission. He made regular trips down to meet with crewmembers of Infinity to let them know that he knew they were human. He'd been under the command of officers that kept a distance from their crews and he'd heard the sort of things those soldiers said while the Captain wasn't around. He'd made himself a promise that if he became a Captain he'd give his soldiers as little reason to talk behind his back as possible. </p><p>"Captain, the Covenant ships seem to be retreating," Roland observed and Lasky watched as the red triangles turned and were moving away from his fleet. "Should we pursue them?" </p><p>"Negative," Lasky answered, setting his hands on the holo-table before him and leaning forward to try to focus on the pelicans. "We have the door to Requiem, there's no reason to risk chasing them around the planet." Maybe he was being too cautious but he didn’t want to risk a foolish mistake like letting his ships chase an enemy into a trap and loose people unnecessarily. It was possible that because the planet was Forerunner in nature maybe the Covenant forces were able to give up their position because they had another way of getting into the planet, but the UNSC didn't so they needed to hold this location. Meanwhile his Pelican needed this position to get supplies and troops to the planet but also to bring back artifacts and more importantly any injured personnel. "Inform squadron Delta, Gamma, Sigma, and Omega to watch our perimeter. If the enemy tries to come back at us I wanna know the moment they're in sight." </p><p>"Aye, Aye sir," Roland responded curtly. "Sir, the first of the Pelicans are nearing their targets and ground combat operations are beginning." </p><p>"Good, alert me if anything out of the ordinary happens, otherwise I'll wait until I've got combat reports." He'd learned from experience that when officers were directing ground troops. He's learned even more to not bother Palmer. She was always on edge when directing her Spartans and even as a Captain he was sure she'd put him in his place if he bothered her. As long as there wasn't any report from Roland that something awful had happened, he'd rather avoid insulting the Spartan Commander. Palmer had always been supportive of him the least he could do is be supportive of her and the Spartans. </p><p>Tom watched the hologram as the assigned squadrons shifted to make a perimeter around the corridor to Requiem. As he watched them settle into place, he realized that with the Covenant having fled and the ground ops just starting he didn't have anything to do for now. He suddenly felt a kinship with Palmer whose most common complaint was about the idle nature of command. All he could do was sit and wait for information to come to him or risk meddling and messing with his well-oiled crew. But this was the job he'd signed up for so he'd wait patiently for the reports to come in. Or maybe he'd wait ten minutes and ask Palmer for an update. Maybe she wouldn't be annoyed if it meant she got to be smug about him being bored.</p>
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